


Checking All the Boxes

by chinesebakery



Series: Season 4 Coda Challenge [4]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Coda Challenge @The FitzSimmons Network, Episode 4x04, Episode Related, F/M, Fluff, Implied Sexual Content, Light Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-23
Updated: 2016-10-23
Packaged: 2018-08-24 05:50:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8359633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chinesebakery/pseuds/chinesebakery
Summary: Coda challenge responses for episode 4x04. Fitz and Jemma visit the famed apartment, and decide to check an additional box or two.In the second drabble, Jemma worries about the ways moving in together might put their relationship to the test.





	1. Checking All the Boxes

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to RaptorLindsay for beta-reading!

“So, what do you think?” Jemma asked, her voice echoing oddly in the empty room. She was staring at him expectantly as she bounced on her heels with jubilation, her red-painted lips stretched into a wide, giddy smile.

The late afternoon sun streaming through the bay window, casting a halo of light around her, and she looked so _happy_ – happier than he’d seen her in years, and so eager to lay the first stone in the foundation of their new life together. It tugged at his heartstrings in an almost violent way.

“I think it’s perfect,” he said past the lump in his throat. “Absolutely perfect.” He closed the two steps between them and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer. She gave him a nimble peck on the lips, but when he pressed against her more firmly, his mouth parting insistently against hers, she pulled away.

“Fitz,” she laughed. “You’ll get lipstick everywhere." 

"Interesting,” he said, his expectations perking up significantly. “Where _exactly_ do you intend to smear me with lipstick?” He started maneuvering them in the direction of the opposite wall, marching her backwards and stealing another quick kiss for each step.

“ _Fitz_ ,” she said again, her would-be stern tone betrayed by the sparkle in her eye. “We can't–”

When her back hit the wall, Fitz grabbed both her hands and pinned them above her head, not as gently as he could have, and she let out a little gasp.

“Why the hell not?” he asked, nuzzling against her neck. “We’ve barely seen each other all week. Besides, we’re taking the apartment, aren’t we?”

It was true that they hadn’t seen much of each other in some time. One crisis led to another, and the two of them kept being assigned to different teams and sent to opposite locations on widely diverging schedules, which meant Fitz found himself alone in bed way too often for his taste. Besides, Jemma finally finding out about Aida warranted some celebration– the lie of omission (however necessary it might have been) that had been weighing on his mind for weeks was now a non-issue, and it was all thanks to her brilliant mind. Fitz could barely believe his luck.

“Of course we’re taking the apartment,” she confirmed, her voice a little less steady now that he was trailing kisses down her throat, until his mouth attached to the pulse point that always made her melt. He nibbled and sucked on the thin skin there until her entire posture loosened. He took the opportunity to step in between her legs, his knee slipping between her thighs.  

Freeing one of her wrists, Jemma grabbed the back of his head and guided his mouth to hers, angling his head so she could deepen the kiss. Fitz felt the control of the situation slipping away from him as she pressed her body further into him and the real world began fading away around them.

“Well then, this is _our_ bedroom,” he noted breathlessly when she released his mouth, his heart pounding harder and harder in his chest.

“Not yet,” she countered, grinding more firmly against his thigh even in spite of her protestations. “And there’s no bed in it.”

“Never stopped you before,” he said in a sigh, his fingers grazing under her blouse, inside the waist of her dress pants, anywhere they could make contact with her skin.

“Well then, Doctor Fitz,” Jemma grinned predatorily before nipping at his bottom lip. “If you insist…”


	2. Not Worried

"Aren't you worried at all?" Jemma asked hesitantly as she settled her head in the crook of his shoulder. "About us living together?"

The decision to move off base had been sudden– immediate, really. Fitz had suggested it the very night S.H.I.E.L.D had been legitimized again, and she'd giddily accepted on the spot. The waves of worry had come later, tugging at her mind at night, although she had never dared to voice them aloud.

It was just so _normal_ , so domestic– maybe too domestic. She and Fitz had effectively left normalcy in the past the moment they stepped on the Bus, and the happiness they'd found together was so new and hard-earned, she was afraid the slightest disruption might bring it all crumbling down.

It was the pressure she was under since she'd started working under Director Mace. The nightmares that still shook her sometimes. Her gallery of ghosts that had almost welcomed a new member, just days ago. She had the hardest time keeping it all from bleeding through the thin walls of their bubble. It was as if every moment of happiness, however brief, had to be balanced out with a slash of anguish.

"We've lived together before," Fitz said gently, although his voice was tinted with concern. "We're living together now."

Underneath the covers, Jemma began wringing her hands nervously. "I know, but it's– different. There will be no buffer between us and normal, everyday life anymore. On top of everything else, we'll have to deal with electricity bills and grocery shopping and laundry duty–"

"I'm not worried," Fitz interrupted her, tilting her face with his hand so she would look at him. "Not even a little bit. Besides, I'm fairly sure it would take more than an added slate of chores to make our lives normal."

 _Does that mean I’ll be the one washing your blood-soaked shirts from now on?_ "You're probably right," Jemma said with a smile she knew didn't quite reach her eyes. "I'm just being silly."

There was a pause, during which Fitz rubbed her shoulder softy. "You know what _does_ worry me?" he finally asked, an edge of humor to his voice. "The prospect of having to go to Ikea with you again."

Jemma snorted, sitting up straight so she could glare In Fitz's direction. "Just because you don't believe in properly preparing–"

"Cause I'm used to you being slightly mental–"

"–a proven order and method to these things–"

"–line between a tad neurotic and freakishly tyrannical–"

"–waste _hours_ stuffing yourself with meatballs–"

"–would think there's a looming shortage of end tables–"

"–what we needed and a trunk full of things we don't!"

"–the gall to deprive me of much needed fuel!"

As their voices overlapped, Jemma chanced a glance at Fitz and found him staring back in self-righteous outrage. His expression was so comical, she could barely hold in her bubbling laughter.

"If the worst thing we have to face is a new round of our Ikea rows, I think we'll be okay."

"Of course we'll be okay," Fitz concurred, pulling her back against him before he kissed the top of her head. "As long as you let me have my meatballs."

"If you must," she said in a long suffering sigh, as she settled more comfortably against him.

"Of course I _must_ ," Fitz replied with mock petulance that sounded very much like the real thing. "That's the whole point of going to Ikea."

" _Right_." Jemma rolled her eyes. Her hand slipped in the crook of his neck, trailing against the stubble there. "Furnishing our new home is just an added bonus."


End file.
